Trust
by Merlin-at-Queens
Summary: Having lost everything but her 2 friends and her beloved horse, Lily finds herself being given a second chance in a world completely different and yet still familiar. But having been hurt in the past, in the most brutal way, can she learn to trust again?
1. Chapter 1

**This is only my second story on fan fiction and my first Lord of the Rings one. So far, ive only got the first chapter thing written up fully but a few other key events have been noted.**

_**Disclaimer:**__** I do not own Lord of the rings or any of its things. They belong to JRR Tolkien. I do however own Lily, Dina and Missy.**_

**ENJOY !**

Watching the foals galloping around the pasture, Lilithia O'Ryan could almost imagine that the world was perfect and her life was whole. Unfortunately, today marked the anniversary of the day her life changed forever and her world fell apart.

_She was 18 when the Commander General of the Irish army came to her and told her that her father had been killed on deployment in Libya. Lily kept the letter from the government telling her that they were sorry for her loss but that they had to inform her that, sadly, her fathers' comrades could not find his body to return home for burial. To her it was pointless political jargon that would do nothing to lessen the blow of losing the man who single-handedly raised her from a baby, a man whom she called her father for as far back as she could remember. In front of everybody else, she tried to put on a brave face but her resolve crumbled in the face of her then boyfriend, Jason Taylor. At the time, he had seemed perfect; smart, handsome, well-mannered; in short, every girls dream man. But that day, her ideal man turned into nothing more than a nuisance. The pressure he put on her to take things further in their relationship was getting to her, especially as that day he seemed to raise the bar even further, telling her that he could make her feel better really started to get to her and so Lily just couldn't cope. To say that Jason was upset by the break-up would have been an understatement but when he stormed out of her apartment, she thought he would have calmed down enough by morning to talk it through. When he did return however, he didn't talk. He simply attacked her with a knife as she woke up and dragged her from her bed, where he proceeded to rape her, only then speaking so he could ridicule her and say how it was her fault he was doing this, that if it wasn't for her it wouldn't be happening this way. When he was finished, having gotten what he wanted, he simply stood to his feet and walked away, leaving her bleeding from the stab wound in her abdomen and the various cuts along her arms and thighs, merely done for his sick, sadistic pleasure. It was only because her friends were worried about their unanswered calls that Lily didn't die on her bedroom floor that night._

Shaking herself of her memories, Lily found her vision obscured by two brown, soulful eyes staring at her from the black and white face of her beloved stallion Orion. Having had him since he was born, Lily felt she could confide in him since he had been by her side through the thick of it. Wiping the tears from her own eyes, as he flopped to the ground beside her, Lily rested her head on his back and sighed.

"Two years baby boy. Two years since all my hopes and aspirations were stolen. Two years since I lost everything… 'cept you". Lily's voice cracked on her last word and it was there her friends Missy and Dina found her. Dismounting, they went to were Orin lay, only to find Lily asleep, her hands fisted in her stallion's mane. The tracks of un-dried tears on her face made it clear she had cried herself to sleep. Dina looked to Missy for advice.

"Should we wake her?"

"Best just leave her. The memories will be hard to deal with during the day. She can dream of a family much easier when she's asleep."

Suddenly a loud crack wrent through the air startling the horses and causing Lily to jolt awake. Unfortunately for the girls, the sudden noise caused the horses to rear, and unable to move, for fear of the mystery storm, the girls were knocked unconscious by their mounts' flailing hooves.

The last thing Lily remembered was the face of a young man, in almost Medieval style armour, astride a gorgeous, dapple grey stallion of his own, accompanied by the message from her dream, before blackness overtook her and she knew no more.

"_**In one's dreams, anything is possible"**_

**There you go. I'm not sure how the next chapter will go but I'll figure it out.**

**Reviews would help that process go a little bit faster though. *hint hint***

**Laters :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter. Sort of a second introductory chapter again but it introduces perhaps my favourite character !**

**Disclaimer: Read chapter 1 - too lazy to keep writing it.**

Having watched the stars since he was a child, Eothain prided himself on knowing the positions off by heart no matter the season of the year. On the second week into autumn however, a new collection of stars appeared in the sky above him, a collection he had never seen before in his life. It was easy to identify by the line of three stars in a row across the sky. Although he was on watch for any strange occurrences, Eothain doubted that a newly found collection of stars was worthy of waking his Marshal since it wasn't a mindless rabble of orcs attacking in the night. With this thought, he kept his suspicions to himself and pushed the matter to the back of his mind, not to be thought of again until the next night.

"_**Protect her. Teach her. Love her."**_

Exiting his tent the next morning, Eomer mulled over the voice from his dream the night before. In a way, he felt as though he knew the _'her'_ the voice spoke of, for it had been accompanied with a vision, a true vision of beauty and innocence for that was the only way you could describe the young woman with piercing blue eyes that despite the evident hurt, could lay your soul bare with one glance. The way she was dressed, the colour of her eyes, one would think she could pass for a woman of Rohan but for one fact; her hair. Having grown up in the embrace of the Royal Family, he had seen those who came from Gondor to trade with his homeland. Their hair bore the same basic shade as hers but it didn't shine the way hers did. And her horse! As purely black as the winter night sky with only 4 white markings on his lower legs, galloping across the golden plains he called home, his mane and tail streaming behind him, similar to the curtain of dark locks which shone in a wave behind his mistress, like the banners of the Golden Hall, caught high in the wind off the mountains.

So caught up in his musings, Eomer did not notice where he was going and walked straight into his second in command.

"Eothain! My apologies, for my mind was elsewhere."

"This early in the morning with no news of orc attacks? Where exactly, pray tell, was your mind?" Eothain joked, his eyebrow raised at the idea of the Third Marshal's mind being anywhere but with his beloved Rohan.

"A dream I had last night. It was most likely nothing anyway, and most certainly not a threat to Rohan," Eomer elaborated as they went to saddle their horses. That was the best bit of these patrols; the freedom to run the plains of Rohan, with friends, both the usual, as well as the four legged kind.

"As long as it doesn't affect your riding we'll be fine then." Eomer just glared at him, before joining the rest of the men around them in their laughter as he mounted.

"No fears then gentlemen. Move out!" Upon his command, the eored moved on from the previous nights' campsite, ready for a day's orc hunting.

It wasn't until midday that Eomer thought of his dream again. Two scouts he had sent ahead, came back within 10 minutes, two strange horses in tow.

"Erkwell? What is this? Who owns these horses?"

"We know not sir. There is a third but it refused to let us any nearer." At this, the second rider piped up.

"It was a pure black stallion sire." Upon hearing his words, all the men rose to their feet, their swords drawn. Eomer turned to the scouts.

"A nazgul?"

"I think not m'lord," Erkwell answered, "He seemed nervous, kept going back to something dark which lay on the ground. But it wasn't dark enough to be a nazgul's robes." Eomer looked at Eothain as he spoke.

"I also highly doubt there would be one of their kind lying wounded on our plains anyway." Eomer conceded this point, and gave orders to mount up as he was taking no chances and the event had to be investigated. The horses belonged to someone, a someone who could be wounded, or dead.

It took them only 5 minutes or so at full gallop to reach the spot where the black horse stood. Smelling the approach of many strange horses, the stallion stood to his feet, wary of the man who rode at the front. Eomer dismounted, and cautiously approached the young women he could see in front of the stallion. Feeling a strong pulse from both, he called two of his men forward to take care of their head wounds and called Eothain to follow him, to check on the third young woman.

Looking at the horse however, Eomer felt a strange sense of familiarity but it was the young woman behind the beast which seized his immediate attention. A flash of dark brown pulled him back to the dream. With a gasp he drew back to look at the horse before, turning, he examined her face.

"What is wrong milord?" Eothain asked, having heard his reaction.

"It's her" Eomer was sure you could hear the disbelief in his voice, making it evident to everyone what he felt about this turn of events.

"Who sire?"

"The woman from my dream. She's real! She's here!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Why do I get the feeling that no matter how many times I say sorry its not going to be enough? I looked tonight and saw that I hadn't updated this story in almost a YEAR and that is simply not acceptable … this chapter had been finished but with A levels and the move to Uni life I didn't get it uploaded … hopefully this makes up for it and I might have a bit more free time for writing now as its actively encouraged now **

**For the disclaimer look to the earlier chapters as its too much hassle to keep writing it from now on …. Im not JRR Tolkien and never will be … mores the pity **

**Chapter Three**

Lilly came to with a pounding headache and a strange ringing in her ears. When she tried to open her eyes she realised that the mere idea of light let alone the reality of it was detrimental to her health and the improvement of her headache so she simply kept her eyes closed. At least that was the plan until she heard a groan from the right. It was at this moment that Lily realised she was not as alone here as she had previously believed… in wherever here was.  
>Opening her eyes all that filled Lilly's gaze was canvas, a sight similar to her after all her years as a scout. A further noise from the right reminded Lilly of why she woke in the first place. Dina was laying on what could only be described as a small make-shift camp bed, a crude bandage around her head. Clearly, Dina's tossing and turning was aggravating her head wound, but not enough to waken her. Just thinking of head injuries but Lilly's back to the forefront of her mind and a groan of her own escaped her lips. Pulling her knees up to curl into a ball, the ease of such movement brought a very important fact to light; someone had changed her clothing. Not realising she had gasped loud enough she was shocked to hear a male voice talking to her<p>

"Miss? Are you ok? I shall tell Lord Eomer you are awake now." With this he ducked back out of the tent, leaving Lilly to realise that she was surrounded by men, strange men, one of whom must have undressed her. And heaven knew what else. Before she could register what was happening, Lilly was curled up in a ball in the corner, unaware that the noise she was hearing this time was her own screams of terror.

Ever since they had come across the three young women on the plains, Eomer's mind had been constant turmoil. When the young woman calling herself Missy had woken up to find one of his men about to change the strange garments of the woman with the dark hair, she almost hit him, started screaming at him to get out and to "remove his filthy, disgusting hands off her or else they won't be the only thing he'd be losing". Naturally, Eothain had done as asked, but informed Missy that her clothes had to changed, but that he would allow her some privacy to tend to her friend. After this moment, Missy came out to provide Eomer and the rest of his men some details as to where they came from and how they got here. In return, she was given details such as where here was and what was going on. It was clear that she still didn't trust them but that took a back seat when Erkwell came to tell Eomer that Lilly, as they now knew she was called, was awake. Before a word left his mouth, an ear shattering scream rent the air, and Missy was on her feet in an instant as where Eomer and his eored.

"Lilly?!"

Sitting in the corner, Lilly saw nothing until Dina's face filled her view. She saw her lips move but no noise come out only this shrill, continuous noise ringing in her ears. It was when Dina looked round and saw Missy come tearing through the tent flaps that she realised that the noise was her. It was this realisation that allowed her to focus on the words.

"Lilly I need you to calm down and breathe. If not you'll pass out" In, out. In, out. In, out. All was silent, except for her breathing. When she thought it was safe Dina asked,

"What happened Lils? What made you scream?" This question brought it all back in a rush and Lilly found she could barely breathe again. It caused her answer to come out in bits and pieces.

"Men…. Clothes….. changed….. sleeping… strangers…" Although Dina could make no sense of it, Missy understood immediately.

"It's ok Lilly. They didn't change your clothes I did. And you haven't got anything I haven't already seen babes." Moving to the side Lilly could finally see the men who stood infront of her. One face stood out more than all the others.

"It's you! The woman from my dreams told me about you!"

If Eomer thought his mind was in turmoil before it was nothing to what it was doing now. What was he supposed to do? Nothing in his training for the position of one of the Rohirrim prepared him for this. Was he to believe it merely coincidence that the day after he dreams of a mysterious woman on a black horse, she miraculously shows up on the plains of Rohan, mere minutes away from his camp? Or is he to believe what this young woman says and think that a disembodied voice of some woman brought them here to save her?

It was only Eothain sitting down beside him that drew him from his musings. Looking over, the Third Marshall acknowledged his long-time friend with a nod before resuming his staring into the dying embers, the silence more contemplative than normal. His friend however, had other plans than simply sitting in silence.

"What do we do now? We cannot simply leave them here can we?"

"I'm trying to find an answer to that question if you would allow me some peace to do so" Eomer hadn't meant to be so sharp with his second but it had been a stressful day.

"Very well sire." Eothain got up to leave, well used to his captain's moods but something held him back. Eomer noticed his hesitation.

"What?"

Nothing sir. Just… What are we to do about the young woman's … aversion to males?" It was a valid question, the answer to which Eomer noticed a few of his men seemed vastly interested in. After all, that scream was not something to be forgotten anytime soon.

"Best to approach her when her friends are awake. Female companionship may help clam her. I fear she has little trust in us. I fear even more that she may have a valid reason to."

**Well what do we think? Yay? Nay? Reviews would be appreciated, if you are still out there. Also the criticism on my writing would be extremely helpful towards my creative writing module this term. But be advised that blatent flamers will be ignored **


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